


Star City Nights

by kory_anders



Series: Arrow rewrites [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DCU
Genre: More relationships and characters will be added as I write, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-05-15 07:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14785883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kory_anders/pseuds/kory_anders
Summary: Pre Season One from Laurel's perspective. Not Sara Lance friendly.Inspired by Mitski's Bury Me at Makeout Creek album





	1. Texas Reznikoff

**Year One**

Laurel Lance woke up just like she did any other day, but it wasn’t an ordinary day for her. It was the anniversary of when her shit bag ex-boyfriend and her horrible sister went on that fucking boat together and died. 

She wasn’t that surprised, since everyone seemed to like Sara better. Her younger sister was the epitome of the golden child despite making one bad decision after another and not caring who she hurt. Laurel loved her sister and would have followed her to the ends of the earth, but how do you come back from a betrayal like that?

It was hard to be mad at either of them though. She had to feel her grief and her anger all at once which was hard to do. Everything in Laurel wanted to scream and cry and shout to the heavens, asking why the universe did this to her, but someone had to keep their family together. 

Her father had started drinking, and her mother acted like she didn’t exist. Laurel was the glue holding them to each other.

“Hi Oliver, it’s been a year since you died. I, uh, I’ve been thinking about everything that happened to us,” she said. It felt good to get all her feelings off of her chest, even if he would never hear it. “I can’t stop thinking how things would have been different if you had just told me how you felt. Would we be married by now? Would we have broken up?”

She walked into the bathroom in her apartment and sat down on the floor. “I can’t stop thinking that this is my fault for pressuring you into moving in with me, but it’s not. It’s yours for not being an adult and talking to me, for sleeping with my sister, for taking her out on that boat. I understand you weren’t ready yet, but why did it have to be her Ollie?

“Sorry, I didn’t want to get angry again. I’m just so tired of that. You know, it’s a really beautiful day out today. I kept thinking that you’d show up and take me to that cabin of yours upstate. The one that you kept saying we’d go to when we wanted to get away from our lives,” Laurel said before pausing to wipe away her tears. This was one of the hardest conversations she’d ever had, and the other person wasn’t even there.

She took a deep breath and continued, “Even though I shouldn’t, I still want to be with you. Just like before, there’s something about you Oliver Queen that draws me in. I’ve been all across the surrounding states for work and still I want to share it with you. But I can’t because you’re gone forever.”

With that, Laurel stopped the recording and put her head in her hands.


	2. Townie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Laurel have a heart to heart.

**Age 19**

“Come on Laurel, there’s an end of the year party tonight, and we’re all going.” 

She looked up from the book she was currently reading to see her younger sister standing in the doorway. Sara was standing in the doorway of her room all dressed up. This was a common theme in their relationship despite Laurel being older. It wasn’t that Laurel was shy; she just didn’t feel the same need to grab everyone’s attention like her sister. She was just fine staying in the shadows. 

Though, that had changed with her relationship with Oliver Queen. He was charming, funny, cute, and of course Star City’s wealthiest son. Laurel never really expected that she would fall in love with someone like him, but he had drawn her in and showed her a different side of their city. 

The party itself was nothing different than what she was used to. Rich people didn’t seem to know how to spice things up, and that meant she had to sit each weekend watching them drink, smoke, and make out with each other. Of course, the one good thing there was Ollie, but he still made her nervous sometimes. 

Laurel had always wanted to fall in love hard and fast; she figured that when she knew, she knew and there was no reason to wait before jumping headfirst into anything. It was always easy for her to throw herself into whatever she was interested in, especially if it kept her from thinking about her troubles. 

Her father’s expectations of her future made a mark on her soul. Sometimes, it felt like Laurel had no choice in what she was going to do with her life, and she was sick of it. “Laurel you can’t be a cop; it’s too dangerous.” “Laurel you can’t date that person because they’re not good enough for you.” “Laurel why can’t you be more fun like your sister?” She was fun! She’d smoked and drank and made out with Oliver Queen, just like anyone else her age would have done. 

The grass where she was sitting was wet, and Laurel could smell the smoke coming from the party. As she sat, she thought about all the things she did and didn’t do over the course of her life. What would have happened if she had rebelled even further? Spent her nights doing whatever her friends wanted to do? 

And all the adults say that change was gonna come during their transition from childhood to adulthood but when? Laurel still felt like a scared little girl most of the time, absolutely terrified that she was doing everything in life the wrong way. 

She was shaken out of her thoughts by Tommy sitting down next to her. Her boyfriend’s best friend wasn’t someone she spent too much time with, but he was always nice to her when the three of them hung out. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked, smiling at her. “I need some real company after Ollie ditched me to go talk to some townies.” 

Laurel stared down at the ground for a moment before saying, “Just thinking about the future and where my life is right now.”

“Any particular thoughts you want to share? I’m here to listen,” he said, taking a swig of his beer. 

“It may not seem that way sometimes, but I feel emotions pretty intensely. Anger, sadness, love, happiness, depression,” she chuckled humorously. “What do I have to be depressed about? I’m such a whiner; I’ve got a great education, a nice relationship, friends and family who care about me? Why should I get to complain?”

Tommy set his beer down next to him and wrapped his arm around Laurel’s shoulder, letting her rest her head on him. As her words sank in, he reflexively tightened his grip because of how close to home her feelings were. They sat there in the dark for a few minutes before he spoke up. 

“It’s okay to feel that way Laurel. Life isn’t perfect and neither are we. Sometimes there are just moments where everything feels like it’s underwater, and no matter what you do, you can’t swim up to the surface. You’re standing there holding your breath with a baseball bat in your hands but not knowing what it is you’re waiting for.”

“That’s exactly how I feel! It’s so nice to hear that someone else feels the same way. Oliver says he hasn’t ever felt that way, and I was afraid I was going to be alone for the rest of my life. But I’m done trying to be what everyone else wants me to be; I’m going to be what my body wants me to be.”

He laughed at Laurel’s declaration and patted her on the top of her head. It was easy between the two of them; no miscommunication or fighting, just understanding. Tommy released Laurel from his grip and said, “Well, if you need a shoulder or an ear, I’ll be there to listen for now.”

“Just for now?”

“And always. For now and always.”

Laurel laughed and lightly hit Tommy’s shoulder. She was glad that he and Ollie were friends, because if they weren’t, she wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to about her feelings. 


	3. First Love/Late Spring

**Year Five**

It was late spring when Oliver Queen returned to Star City. The air had already warmed up, and people were getting ready for the summer months ahead. Laurel, of course, was busy with both of her jobs. She had some trouble balancing her day job with her hero work, but she couldn’t let her gifts go to waste and not do anything to help the city. 

Tommy had called her a wild woman once, after seeing her Cry in action, but Laurel didn’t feel like one. Wild women don’t get the blues, and that was still one of the only feelings she let herself have any more. She cried when no one was watching, not just over her first love but her family too. 

Everything bubbled over when Oliver came back and visited her as she was closing the building up for the night. The sight of him wasn’t a shock to her at first; it was normal for her to see him when she was feeling down and lonely. Time continued on, and he was still there which made her realize that he was really standing in front of her. 

“Laurel it’s, it’s good to see you again,” he said after a few minutes. “I wanted to tell you in person that I’m back, so you didn’t find out from the papers or anything.”

She stared at him before shaking her head and saying, “Yeah, no. Thanks, I guess.”

“I’m sorry; I messed up really badly and-”

“No, don’t do this right now. I can’t- just don’t say that to me right now,” Laurel interrupted. She didn’t think she could handle that conversation right now, especially since she was about to go on patrol. “I know you must have gone through hell to get back, and I will listen but you were gone for so long. I spent so much time thinking about what I would say if you were in front of me, and it just hurts a lot more than I thought it would. So please don’t say you love me or you’re sorry; just leave me alone for now.” 

Oliver looked stunned at her words, but after a few seconds, he nodded and started to walk away. She pressed her back up against the wall to catch her breath. Seeing him was so hard now, and she felt like she was going to cry as if she were a child again. A tall child with baggage for miles. 

“Hey Birdie,” Tommy’s voice called from the comm device in her ear. “You ready to rock? I was thinking you could hit up the south side tonight since we got that tip from Sin about the drug deal going down. We’re lucky you found that kid with your volunteer work; who knew a seven year old could know so much about criminal enterprises?”

“Tommy, he’s back. Did you know that Oliver is back?”

There was a pause on the line before Tommy came back, asking her to meet up at their headquarters. As she walked, Laurel thought about all the things that had happened between her and Oliver as well as everything that happened after he left. Fuck, how was this going to affect her relationship with Tommy? 

They had grown closer since the boat went down and she got her powers. He was there for her when the Canary Cry manifested itself, when her mother left, when she dated Joanna. The two of them were partners now, and there were no secrets between them. Oliver being back would throw everything off balance, for both of them. He was their first loves. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Tommy asked as she walked in. He sat at the computers, a frown on his face. There was silence between them for a moment as they just stared at each other, letting the situation sink in. 

Laurel sighed and said, “Not really no. I can’t breathe and it feels like my chest is going to explode. For all my hoping and wishing he would come back, I never thought it would ever actually happen one day.”

“Neither did I. Are you going to go out tonight and patrol?”

“I have to. Whatever I’m feeling doesn’t matter right now; this city needs me and I have to be there for it.”

With that, she suited up and stretched out to get ready for tonight’s mission. Tommy watched her from his seat; he wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn’t make the words come out. He knew this was the beginning of the end for them romantically since the Oliver/Laurel love story was an epic one. It had the potential to span decades complete with hidden dates and lives ruined. Tommy was going to be left behind once again. 

Laurel jumped from rooftop to rooftop, making her way down to the south side. It was hard for her to focus on this drug deal since her life was turned upside down, but she forced herself to get her head in the game. So many lives depended on her stopping this deal, and she wouldn’t let them down. 

She watched as they moved their product into an old warehouse near the river. They were quick and quiet with it, probably from years of experience. After the majority went inside to separate and distribute the drugs to the head dealers, Laurel began taking the outside guards out one by one. The plan was to do so quickly and quietly so they couldn’t alert the others. 

Once she made her way inside, she watched as they divided the drugs, choosing which people got which routes and neighborhoods. This was perfect. Laurel brought her hand in front of the camera on her mask, making the signal for Tommy to record the events unfolding. The recording and the arrests the cops would make in about six minutes when they arrived to the scene would be enough to send them to jail for a long time. Joanna would make sure of it as the public legal side of their little team. 

As she watched, Laurel thought more about Oliver’s return and wondered if her sister made it too. It wasn’t too far out there to think that she did since he came back, and it wasn’t like Sara had no skills. Their father made sure they could fight and defend themselves as well as different survivalist tactics. He always said they could never be too careful. 

When she heard the police sirens coming their way, Laurel stood up from her place in the rafters and let out her Canary Cry to stun the dealers into staying where they were. She dropped down, punching and fighting the ones who were still standing. Though she would never say it out loud, there was something therapeutic about fighting her anger out physically. Ted always told her it wasn’t healthy, but he seemed to feel the same way she did now. 

Soon after she started fighting, the SCPD burst into the warehouse. Officers poured in from every direction and at the front of it all was her father. It was funny to her that he still didn’t know she was the Black Canary, but she did have a neat trick up her sleeve. 

“Officer Lance,” she said in a different voice than her normal one. Not only did that accelerator blast give her a subsonic scream, but it also allowed her to mimic and manipulate her voice anyway she wanted. It had taken her a lot of training; fortunately it came in handy as far as keeping her identity a mystery. 

Her father looked at her and nodded. “Canary,” he said. “You’d think after hearing your Cry so many times the thugs would invest in some ear plugs.” 

She chuckled and said, “You’d think so. I’ll leave this in your capable hands now; looks like your boys have it all under control. The footage of their deal will be delivered to you tomorrow.”

Before he could say anything back, she ran out of the building and climbed onto a nearby roof to start her journey back to base. Once she was a good bit away from the warehouse, she slowed down to a walking pace, content to take in the night air and think. 

“Are you coming back tonight?” Tommy asked over the comms. He had a worrying tone to his voice, but it wasn’t necessary. She was Dinah Laurel Lance; she would be just fine once she got her bearings straight. 

“Not tonight. I’m gonna walk until I can’t anymore. Until I reach the top of the sky.”

“Be safe, then. I’ll see you at home. Over and out.”

How the fuck was she going to deal with this? It’d be hard to have Oliver around again, but Laurel figured as long as she had Tommy and Joanna, she could make it through anything.


	4. Francis Forever

**Year Two**

The middle of the night was the worst time for Laurel. She had trouble sleeping since the night they left, and while she lay there, her thoughts raced a thousand miles a minute. What would she be doing right now if Oliver was home? If Sara was? Where would she be tomorrow, instead of getting ready to go release her anger?

Would she be happy?

Clearly not going back to sleep anytime soon, Laurel sat up and grabbed her phone. She thought about leaving him another message like she did last year, but it probably wasn’t a good idea. It was time to let the past go and move on with her life. 

Laurel sighed and started scrolling through instagram trying to trick herself into falling asleep again. She scrolled past pictures from her high school friends she never talked to and bands that she hadn’t listened to in years. Maybe it was time for a fresh start. 

Clicking the account tab, she looked through her followers and weeded out the people she no longer cared about or associated with. Some names she felt guilty about since they had been big parts of her life when she was younger, but times changed and so had Laurel. 

She stopped when she got to Tommy Merlyn’s profile. Now there was someone she hadn’t talked to in a while. Last time they hung out was before Laurel had asked Ollie to move in with her and he left. She wondered what he was up to lately. 

His instagram didn’t tell her much, just pictures of different cities he went to for business and food he enjoyed. A typical instagram for a typical guy, but Tommy had always been so much more than that. He was a good friend, one she didn’t want to let go of. 

Making a split second decision, she found his contact in her phone and dialled his number. It rang for a long time, but eventually he picked up. 

“Laurel?” he said sleepily, fighting back a yawn. “It’s 3 in the morning; what are you doing up so late?”

“I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about him,” she paused for a moment, “and you. I’ve missed you.”

She heard a rustle on his end, probably him sitting up to talk to her. “I’ve missed you too, Laur. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you after everything, but it was hard for me too.”

“I just don’t know what to do without him. I mean I should be angry and I am, but I still love them. God, I sound like such an idiot.”

“No, no you aren’t an idiot. I know exactly how you feel,” he paused for a moment. “I knew one day he was going to leave me too, but at least our situation was different and he left me for you.”

It wasn’t a surprise to hear that Tommy had been in love with Oliver when they were younger; he had a certain way of drawing people in. Plus she had talked to him about being bi when she and her sister came out. Something in the Star City water, she always joked. 

“I’m sorry that I let you fall out of my life. I guess I was just so busy with trying to keep everything together and show the world that I was doing okay, that I didn’t even think to check on you,” she took a deep breath in and wiped away the tears from her face. “Tommy, you’ve meant so much to me. I really miss you.”

“I miss you too. Hey, how about we meet up tomorrow? Just walk and talk, like old times.”

She laughed a bit and said, “Yeah, it should be a sunny day tomorrow. We can walk underneath the trees and really pretend it’s old times.”

They both smiled and said their goodnights before settling back into bed to sleep. It was comforting to see that there was someone there for you when your whole world had been shaken to the core. 


	5. I Don't Smoke

**Year 5.5**

Oliver’s return had shaken things up around Star City; not just for Laurel and Tommy but for the whole city. The Queen family was back in the public’s thoughts, since everyone wanted to know what had happened while he was away. Everyone had so many questions, most of all Laurel. 

Things between them were tense still. She wasn’t quite ready to forgive and forget; neither were her parents. Dinah had come back to visit from Central City, but it was only to see if Sara had come back with Oliver. She was still holding onto hope that her daughter would return by any means necessary.

Laurel spent a lot of her free time in the Canary Quarters, so affectionately dubbed by Joanna. She wanted to keep busy with her work to drown out any thoughts about Oliver or their situation. It couldn’t be ignored forever, but she would damn well try her hardest. 

The biggest change to Star City was the introduction of this new mask, the Green Arrow. No one was really sure who he was or why he was targeting the wealthiest and influential members of their city, but his presence made Laurel concerned for Oliver’s safety and the stability of Star City’s ecosystem. 

This wannabe Robin Hood had been shaking up the high society circles, including the highest level drug dealers, traffickers, and organized crime bosses. It wouldn’t be too much of a problem, except she had put months of effort into taking them down and he was killing. All of her hard work in taking these organizations down was going to waste with his actions, and Laurel would be damned if she let some newcomer take over her city. 

For the past week, she and Tommy had been tracking his whereabouts, but there didn’t seem any particular pattern besides targeting the rich and famous. There wasn’t a connection between the men he murdered besides their hidden misdeeds. Laurel planned to stop him tonight, no matter what. 

She followed him after getting tips from Tommy and Sin, her eyes in the sky. He was heading towards the docks, no doubt trying to stop a drug or arms deal. As he made his way across the rooftops, he didn’t seem to notice her. The quest he was on was more important than checking his surroundings, which is why it was extremely easy for her to sneak up behind him and catch him off guard. 

“Fuck,” he yelled as she flipped him to the ground. His voice was hidden behind a modifier, and his hood was stuck neatly to his head. Laurel pinned him down, gripping his pressure points on his shoulder so he didn’t get away. 

“Who are you and what are you doing in my city?” she asked, disguising her own voice. One could never be too careful. 

The Green Arrow scowled at her and said, “Your city? Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the Black damn Canary, and Star City is under my protection. You want to do business here, you have to answer to me.”

He struggled for a bit before realizing that it was pointless. Her grip was too strong, and he was trapped. Emotions flitted across his face, but he made no attempt to tell her who he was or what he was trying to do on his quest. Fine, she’d do this the hard way. 

Laurel placed more pressure on his nerves, until he finally cried out and gave in. 

“Alright, alright! I’m the Green Arrow; I’m on a mission to avenge my father. Before he died, he left me a list of all the evil people in Star City, and it’s up to me to punish them since the law can’t.” 

She let him up but kept a grip on his arm. “You’ve been making my job hell and you’re too dangerous right now to be left on your own, so you’re coming back to my headquarters. Vigil and I will interrogate you further.” 

Surprisingly, he didn’t protest much as she led him to her warehouse. Tommy was out of sight, but his voice boomed over the speakers. 

“Welcome, Green Arrow. You will answer our questions truthfully, or you will face Black Canary’s wrath.”

She sat him down near their workout station and bound his arms to the chair. They couldn’t let him escape now after finally catching him. Tommy began asking questions while Laurel watched his body language, putting to use all the lessons Richard gave her. He was tense which made sense, but he was also strangely not trying to escape from his bonds. His arms were resting in place, no struggling at all. 

“Lau- Canary, is there anything you would like to add?” Tommy’s voice called from above. Fuck, they almost slipped up there. She didn’t want this getting out the the rest of Star City. 

The Green Arrow’s eyes widened at the almost mention of her real name. Did he recognize her? She watched him take a good long look at her, suddenly feeling self conscious. 

“Laurel? Is that you?” he asked. Fuck, her cover was blown. She was about to switch her voice again to try and throw him off the scent, but he turned his modifier off and spoke again. “It’s me Oliver. What the fuck are you doing like this?”

She gasped slightly in disbelief. Of all the people in Star City, why did the new mask have to be him? It made a bit of sense when she thought about it, though she had no idea where he got the skills from. What happened to him while he was away? 

“I’m the Black Canary Oliver; we’ve been over this already tonight. I’ve been keeping Star City on the right path and catching criminals,” she said before taking off her mask and calling out, “You can come out now Tommy. It’s just Oliver.”

Tommy appeared from one of the adjacent rooms looking just as shocked as Laurel. This was shaping up to be one of the weirdest nights in their history of vigilante work, and that was including the night that they met a bunch of Green Lanterns while investigating a crash in the New Mexico desert. Intergalactic space cops were a bit much to handle all at once when just getting into the hero business. 

“Nice to see you alive Oliver,” Tommy said, walking over to Oliver and untying his bonds. They were all friends here, or at least as close as they could be right now. Once he was finished, he walked over to Laurel in a show of support and solidarity. 

Oliver quickly stood up and said, “How could you let her do this Tommy? It isn’t safe for her to be a vigilante, and unless she was training with the best martial artists in the world, she isn’t anywhere near ready to be out there fighting!”

“Let me? Who the fuck do you think you are?” Laurel scrunched up her fists in anger. “What do you know about my life Oliver? You think you know me after being away for five years. Newsflash asshole, I’ve changed since then.”

“It’s not that I think you haven’t, but Laurel self defense classes aren’t going to cut it in the streets. Not with the threats we have out there.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I’ve tangled with the Lanterns, the Queen of Atlantis, hell even the fucking League of Assassins!”

At the mention of the League, Oliver gasps and tenses up. So that’s what he had been doing over the past few years. He stood there unmoving for a minute before saying, “You ran into the League?”

“We have a mutual friend”, she said hugging her arms tighter to her body. Oliver had this way of making her feel small sometimes when they were arguing. She hated that feeling, and even though she had become a lot stronger, his return made them all feel like kids again. 

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Laurel, you need to stop this. Now. I won’t let you put yourself in danger.”

Laurel uncrossed her arms and stepped closer to Oliver. She sized him up and said, “Let’s get one thing straight. You do not and will not order me around. I’m a grown woman, and I will spend my time however I please. You’ve been away, Oliver. You have no idea what I’ve been through over the past five and a half years. I’ve trained with vigilantes and assassins; my good friend rules over all the oceans. There is nothing that I can’t handle with my skills and the people I’ve worked with.”

Oliver grabbed her arm as if to shake some “sense” into her, but there was nothing he could say that would deter her from fighting for her city. He sighed and said, “I just want to keep you safe.”

“You’re gonna make me take up smoking, I swear,” she said half joking. “I might have gone along with that when I was younger, but I won’t do it now. I’ve come too far to just give it all up. And when did you decide to care about my life? Was it before or after you fucked my sister? You left me alone, Oliver, wondering where you were for five years. I waited for you to come back and tell me I was meant for you. You can’t just waltz back in and act as if everything’s okay between us. ”

“You’re right. I guess I just can’t believe that you became this amazing woman because of the mistakes I made.”

Laurel chuckled, “I am stronger than you give me credit for. Look you can get mad at me, break my shit, break my heart again, but you don’t get to tell me who I get to be.”


	6. Jobless Monday

**Year 5.75**

“So wait, you’re adding him to the team? I know I’m just an auxiliary member, but a little heads up would be nice.” 

Laurel’s ex-girlfriend and current best friend, Joanna de la Vega. She wasn’t quite part of team Black Canary, but her opinion was just as important to Laurel as Tommy’s. Sin’s opinion didn’t hold as much weight as theirs since she was only seven, though Laurel hoped the adoption papers would go through soon with Moira’s help. 

“I know, I know. I should have told you, but things have been so crazy with the three of us working together,” she said as she finished up the brief she was working on. Usually the legal assistant would do them, but they were a little short staffed at CNRI at the moment. It worked out for the two of them though, since they were relatively free to discuss Black Canary business. 

Joanna sighed and stood up. “Come on, we’re going to lunch,” she said grabbing Laurel’s hand and dragging her away from the desks. “This calls for some serious girl talk.”

They walked down the street to one of their favorite restaurants. It wasn’t too private, but their conversation would probably go unnoticed if they spoke in code. After they ordered, Laurel scrolled through her phone, looking at Tommy’s instagram until Joanna cleared her throat. 

She looked up and said, “Fine, you win. Oliver being back has been hard on me, you know? I just can’t stop thinking about the past, and I feel so guilty because of Tommy. He’s been there for me and I love him, but Oliver’s presence is messing with me. We need him as an ally though, because I’m pretty sure that he’d continue on his killing spree if we weren’t there to stop him.”

“Babe, it’s not your job to keep him under control. You aren’t his mother and definitely not his girlfriend anymore.”

“I know. It’s dumb, but I almost wish I could go back to before we met when he didn’t really know me yet. If I never met him, none of this would have ever happened. I could never stop being the Black Canary though. My work is too important to me and so is proving everyone wrong by going farther than they think I can.”

They paused for a moment while the waitress sat down their food, but quickly started again when she left. Joanna unwrapped her silverware and said, “Clearly, I can’t imagine you not being a hero. You’ve done so much for the city through being Laurel and Black Canary; you’ve done so much for that little girl too. Don’t let yourself be wrapped up in the times where you were setting out to prove yourself; you’re already there.”

Laurel smiled at her friend and continued eating her lunch. She always knew exactly what to say and be the voice of reason to her ambitious, emotional behavior.


	7. Drunk Walk Home

**Year Three**

Laurel was not having a great night. She was in Central City helping their A.D.A. with a case concerning a criminal who operated in both cities. It was the first time she had been since her mother moved here. They weren’t on the best of terms since Dinah was still holding onto the idea of her sister being alive. 

Like a fool, she decided that visiting her mother would be a good idea, but Dinah made it almost immediately clear that it wasn’t. Their visit was distant, as if Laurel was a stranger meeting her mother for the first time. So much tension and awkward silences, it killed Laurel to not be close to her mother anymore. 

That led her to a bar a few streets away. It was in a really sketchy neighborhood, close to the abandoned apartment complexes from past housing projects, but Laurel couldn’t bring herself to care in that moment. She just needed something to calm herself down and bring her back to stability. She’d worry about where her mother lived and her safety tomorrow. 

The bar itself was fairly empty, but that wasn’t a huge surprise since the Star Labs people were unveiling that new accelerator thing. Laurel wasn’t that interested in science; she was more of a humanities gal. Most people in town were off at the unveiling, hoping to see the dawn of a new age of technology for themselves or prove they were cultured enough to understand what the thing would actually do. 

After everything that happened, she wasn’t one for big parties. Sometimes she went with Tommy but only if he really needed someone to hang out with and not die from boredom. Everything was more tolerable with him around. 

Laurel sat and drank for a few hours; she wasn’t super trashed, but she could definitely feel the alcohol now. As she sat, she kept thinking about her mother and how closed off Dinah became when Sara left. It wasn’t fair that Laurel was always pushed aside, especially when it wasn’t her fault they left. She felt herself getting more and more angry, and finally she decided to go back to Dinah’s apartment and let out everything she was holding inside. 

She left the bar and began walking back, when suddenly all of her emotions bubbled up to the surface. 

“I’m retiring to the sludge filled coast, because clearly that’s where I belong. The only place I’ll ever be free,” Laurel yelled out into the night air. “Free from my mom’s disappointment, free from dad’s expectations, free from Oliver. Fuck you Oliver Queen! Fuck you and your fucking money. I’m so tired of hearing people talk about your money.”  

It was luck and perhaps a bit of divine intervention that there wasn’t anyone around to hear her yelling. The streets were quiet until a loud noise broke the stillness and everything started shaking. It felt like an earthquake, but Central City was on the east coast. There was no way that it could be. Laurel didn’t seem to notice as she continued to walk, blaming the shifting ground to her inebriated state. 

She sat down on the curb of the street and continued to speak. “I wore this dress and these heels for them. First for Oliver and now for my mother, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing has ever been enough for them, and I don’t know what I can do to earn their love.”

The air around her seemed to move and bend, as if it were alive to comfort her. Laurel took a deep breath in and screamed, letting out all her anger and frustration and sadness at once. As she cried out into the night, a wave of some sort washed over her and her scream intensified until it sounded subsonic. The windows around her shattered, and Laurel stopped, touching her throat. She let out another small yell to see if she caused the damage, and a loose brick that had fallen crumbled into tiny pieces. 

Laurel quickly got up and ran the rest of the way to her mother’s apartment. A million thoughts raced in her head, but the main one was that she needed her mother to help fix things. She pounded on Dinah’s door until she opened. Her mother had an annoyed expression on her face, but at the sight of her daughter dirty and on the verge of tears, she ushered Laurel in. 

“Laurel, what happened to you?” Dinah asked. She hadn’t paid much attention to her daughter over the years, but she could tell something was wrong with her. They sat down on the couch with Dinah taking Laurel’s hands in her own. 

There was a long moment of silence as she tried to find the words to explain what just went down. She breathed in deeply and recounted everything from after she had left the first time. Dinah sat there listening intently, soaking in what her daughter was saying. It was a bit far-fetched, but it reminded her of something someone told her. 

When Laurel finished, she walked over to the hall closet and brought back a box of pictures. They started looking through them and as they did, Dinah said “When I was younger, back in my Gotham City days and before your father and I started dating, I was a fighter in my friend Ted Grant’s gym. It wasn’t anything big, just a way for me to keep in shape and prove to your grandpa that I could hold my own with the rest of the guys. One night after a fight, a man came up to me and introduced himself as the Wizard. I figured he was one of those weird guys that just likes to see women fight for some reason, but he told me that one day my daughter would take on my name and have a powerful scream.”

“What? How could he have known?”

Dinah sighed and said, “I don’t know, but he was right. I didn’t think much of it when I had you until one day you fell asleep for a whole day. Nobody knew what was wrong with you, but I remembered what he said to me. So we started calling you ‘Laurel’ after that and I distanced myself from you. It was hard for me to know that one day you’d become like me, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I didn’t want a life of fighting for you.”

“Is that why you only cared about Sara all these years?” Laurel asked. Hearing all of this about her mom was a huge shock, but it made sense looking back. It pained her to hear that Dinah pushed her away for such a stupid reason. 

“I didn’t ever stop caring about you, but you have to understand, I couldn’t watch you become me. My past, all the fighting and pain and anger, was never something I wanted to share or let anyone else feel. I never even told your father,” she said putting the pictures back into their box. 

Laurel leaned back into the couch, trying to process everything that her mother said. She never would have imagined that Dinah used to be a fighter or that she knew about the possibility of Laurel getting powers. She thought back to all the times she was ignored or pushed away and how she grew up thinking that nothing she did would ever be enough. 

“What was your name? Your fighting name?” 

Dinah paused for a moment, debating on whether to tell her the truth or not. After a minute, she sighed and said “Black Canary. I was the Black Canary. Your grandfather used to call me his little songbird, and so I used that as inspiration.”

“I like it; it suits us,” Laurel nodded in satisfaction. She noticed her mother ready to protest, but nothing was going to stop her. “Mom, I need to do this. You tried so hard to keep me away from this life, but I have this gift and I can’t just let it go to waste when I could be helping people. I need to heal the city, for their sake and mine.”

“Oh darling, I’m so sorry for everything. I’m so proud of the woman you grew up to be, even if I wasn’t a part of it,” she said as a few tears leaked from her eyes. 

“I forgive you, but you’re not allowed to push me away anymore.”

Dinah shook her head quickly; that was a mistake she wouldn’t make again. While not everything was forgiven or forgotten, it was the first step in mending their relationship and Laurel was anxious to finally know her mother. They sat there or the rest of the night, talking about anything and everything that popped into their minds.


	8. I Will

**Year 6.5**

A loud yell woke Laurel from her sleep; it had been a long night of recon and surveillance for the Black Canary team. She and Tommy had gone back to their apartment with Oliver in tow. Things weren’t perfect between the three of them, but they were trying hard to repair the past. Slowly but surely, Oliver was winning their trust back and proving that he was a different man than he was before he arrived at the island. 

Laurel quickly made her way into the living room where the loud noises were coming from, not even bothering to check if Tommy was awake or following. There was nothing she couldn’t handle on her own. When she entered the room, she noticed that nothing was out of place save for the man on her couch screaming. 

She hurried over to Oliver’s side, trying to calm him down and wake him. Laurel knew exactly how best to wake someone up from a night terror after having done it for her father so many times before. For a moment after he woke, Oliver’s eyes were still hazy and he couldn’t seem to focus on his surroundings. At the sound of Laurel’s soothing voice, he shuddered and exhaled. 

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said quietly. “It was just another memory of- of the island.”

He hadn’t told her everything about his time there. Most of his memories were too painful to discuss, especially in regards to his time in the League. The only things he told her was that it was horrible, her sister had survived but he wasn’t sure if she was still alive, and that he met a man called Slade Wilson who told him that he reminded Slade of his son Grant. Laurel never tried to get anything more out of him, due to her fear of pushing him too far. 

“No, it’s okay. I understand. It’s good you’re feeling all of these emotions; maybe soon you’ll be able to let them go. But for now, I can take good care of you.”

She shuffled him towards the bathroom, hoping to get him clean after his sweat-soaked nightmare. There was a quiet peace between them while the water heated up. Tommy surprisingly hadn’t woken up yet, even after all that yelling. Once the water was a good temperature, Laurel helped Oliver into the shower whispering soothing words once again. 

Oliver stood there taking in the warm water and collected his thoughts. He was about to speak when Laurel broke the silence herself. She said, “You don’t need to talk, just listen for now. I know things between us haven’t been the best lately and it’s partly my fault, but I need you to know that I’m here for you. Whenever, wherever you decide you want to talk, I will be there to listen. I’ll be there to wash your hair and stay with you. There’s no need to put on a brave face for me.”

“Thank you. I’m not great right now, and I’ve never been fair to you but one day I will be.”

Nothing else needed to be said then. They soaked in the relaxing nature of the water before getting out and drying off. When that was done, Laurel led him into her and Tommy’s bedroom. She pressed herself close to him and tugged Oliver down to lay next to her. 

It was a tight squeeze for the three of them, but they would make it work. Tommy would have a shock when he woke up the next morning though. 

“Don’t be afraid to sleep, Ollie. You don’t have to quietly bear the nightmares anymore; I can keep them away for you. We aren’t out of the tunnel yet, but there’s no need to put on a brave face,” she said quietly while tracing a pattern on his arm to calm him down more. “You know this is all I want right? Everything right here, the three of us together.”

“Really?”

“Really. So just stay here, hold my hand for now. Let me be the one to carry your fears tonight.”

Soon after, Oliver fell asleep and Laurel thought about where things were going between the three of them. She wasn’t lying when she said she wanted to be there with both of them. She figured it was time to talk to Tommy about their arrangement again. It was scary letting someone who hurt them so badly back into their lives, but they could handle it. Laurel would be brave again once the sun came up.


	9. Carry Me Out

**Age 12**

Her father always scolded her for doing it, but Laurel Lance loved climbing out onto the roof of their house late at night. It was the one place she could get away from her family for a while and just breathe. The night air comforted her after whatever trials the day held, and she felt calm and peaceful looking up at the night sky. 

Laurel put the blanket she brought with her down on the rooftop and untied her hair from its ponytail before laying down. She much preferred having her hair splayed out behind her, instead of being gathered uncomfortably. It felt like she was part of the night, connected to everything around her. 

Speaking of connections, lately she had been getting closer to Ollie Queen. He was much different from what the men she was used to, mostly because of his incredible wealth. Laurel didn’t have much experience with the upper class, but after spending the past few years around Ollie’s friends and family, she felt she understood their world a bit better. 

It was hard for her though, not because she felt out of place around them, but because of Sara. Her little sister had a massive crush on Ollie which was a bit of a problem since he liked Laurel, or she hoped so anyway. Not to mention that it would be a bit weird since he was three years older than Sara; he was already getting ready for high school while she stayed behind in middle school. Laurel always felt bad that they did so much together; she hoped that Sara would find her own friends too and not be so caught up in Laurel’s group. 

As she sat and thought about all the choices she made in her life and how they led her to where she was as a person, Laurel had the sudden urge to scream. She wanted to scream and cry and let everything she had been holding back out into the night air. She wanted the wind to carry her out into the stars until she felt peace. 

Her life wasn’t that bad nor was it extraordinarily hard, but it hurt a lot of the time. Every now and again, the sadness and loneliness would hit her like a tidal wave. She had friends and family to lean on, but how could she talk about this with any of them? Who would listen to her when so many people ignored her cries for help? 

It felt like she was alone in a crowded room. Laurel could see and feel everyone around her, but no one could hear her talking. Sometimes they did, but it wasn’t as often as she would have liked. She felt like every time she found a place to belong there would be something in the way, stopping her from ever really clicking with someone or some group. 

Hopefully this time would be different. Maybe she wasn’t as close to Ollie’s group as he was, or even his best friend, but she could belong. Laurel would find her own way to connect to them, and she’d feel whole again. 

Until then, she’d take comfort in the night sky and the warm breeze of the summer air. 


	10. Last Words of a Shooting Star

**Age 45**

Everyone understands that life is unexpected, but no one ever really considers how wild a life can get. For Laurel Lance, it was a tale of betrayal, bloodshed, pain and anger alongside warmth, happiness, and love. She went to strange lands and far off places; she met so many people who impacted her life one way or another. Life as the Black Canary was exciting and gave her much to reflect on. 

She had flown many places in her life, but none quite so turbulent as the ride she was taking to see her old friend and partner, Helena Bertinelli. The Huntress had been an adversary once upon a time, until Laurel showed her kindness and compassion. In a city full of people out to get her, Laurel was the only one that tried to understand and reason with Helena. Of course, hero work wasn’t something one could do on their own, and this led to a long lasting partnership, including most of the female heroes know to Earth. The Birds of Prey. 

It also requires training and teaching; all of which Laurel sought out so she could become the best vigilante the city would ever have. 

Her first stop had been Ted Grant, aka Wildcat. Dinah mentioned him during their conversation about her past, and Laurel was keen to meet someone from her Gotham days to fill in the blanks where her mother’s stories stopped. He taught her different boxing and American fighting styles, as well as becoming an uncle/father figure for her to lean on when things got rough. 

She found friends, lovers, and so many mentors along the way. There were people from all over the world with different fighting styles, magical powers, aliens. If there was a superpowered being on planet Earth, Laurel had probably met or come across them. It helped to have a super genius hacker by her side, who had tangled with almost every meta and vigilante. 

The plane she was on was fairly normal, and the passengers were part of the usual commuting crowd a person could expect to see at an airport. However, she had never felt turbulence like this before. It was shaking and falling, almost as if the gods themselves were trying to take down the aircraft. The intercom was buzzing with platitudes from the pilots, trying to keep everyone calm as they tried to take back control of the plane. 

There weren’t many moments that made Laurel’s life flash before her eyes, but this was one of them for sure. She thought about all the nights she spent as a kid staring at the darkness of her room with nothing running through her head. The dark made it easy to block out all the noise in her mind. When she did think about things, she thought of how she wanted to make a difference in the world, be somebody that people could look up to. While she didn’t realize at the time, Laurel’s childhood dreams had always led her to becoming the Black Canary. 

She also thought about Joanna and Mera, Gan, Tommy and Oliver; all the lovers and people she had grown close to over the past years. Friendship and heartbreak, love and sadness had colored all of Laurel’s relationships. Joanna was a fleeting but great romance, Mera and Gan were simple crushes, Tommy and Ollie were her soulmates. Oliver hadn’t always been that way before the island. He used to say he loved her in the mornings, but she could tell he was looking in his own eyes when he looked into hers. Of course, that was in the past now. 

To her left, the passenger beside her began cracking a piece of plastic which reminded her of the story of the Liberty Bell. People held it up as this great symbol because of its flaws, but in reality it had been replaced long ago when it cracked after they rang it. Was this a reflection of life? Should people just give up when things got too hard for them? Of course, the replica made the idea even stronger for people.  The crack itself became a symbol to never give up, even if everything in your path is telling you to quit. Much like the legend status of the Black Canary, the bell’s music was something people can and would hold on to when they needed hope. 

When she thought about her legacy and how she would die, Laurel never imagined that a plane would be the thing to take her down for good. In all honesty, she never thought about any particular way she wanted to die, just that she would one day fade away. People who knew the Laurel side of her would think she was just as clean and pretty as the face she put on for everyone watching. Hell, even her room was neat and tidy as if it were a reflection of the life she almost wished she had. The work she did as Black Canary took up too much of her time, though, to put that same face on for the people that saw both sides of her. 

All of a sudden, the plane stopped shaking and everything went back to normal. The pilots once again apologize as everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Laurel wouldn’t die today, at least from a plane crash. Soon after this bout of turbulence, they landed and made their way into the airport. 

“Hey baby, you got a minute?” Laurel asked once one of her lovers picked up the phone. “I need to tell you everything that just happened.”

“For you? For now and for always.”

_ Goodbye _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so this was a long ride for me. I poured a lot of my own feelings and emotions into this, but what can you expect from such an intense album? This book is finally done, but the story isn't over yet. I was mostly using this as a way to test out how I wanted to plan my series rewrite with a new canon and timeline. Now that I have a feel for it, I plan on exploring different plot points and relationships deeper than what was shown here. I'm curious to see what you guys would want to see touched on in the future so leave me a comment if you like on what characters/storylines you want me to cover! Thank you all so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed!


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